


Night and Day

by jack_knightley



Series: Journeys in Evos [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon GO
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:35:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28209942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jack_knightley/pseuds/jack_knightley
Summary: In the Evos region, each new trainer is given an eevee to begin their pokemon journey. As the trainers travel through the region, they gather badges that are based off the great gems, usually housed and protected by a local gym. When combined, these gems can summon powerful, legendary, even mythic pokemon for trainers to behold, battle, and befriend. But numerous teams of nefarious trainers are attempting to call forth these pokemon for their own greed and gain.Chance is a trainer attempting to make it to the Evos League and challenge the League Leader. As he investigates his fourth gym, the Haunted Mansion on the hill, he comes across a greater goal than battling in the League: stopping Team Eclipse before they can use the gems they’ve stolen to summon a powerful pokemon. As he attempts to stop them, Chance runs across Tyler again, his one-time companion and the boy he’s still in love with. As the two attempt to stop Team Eclipse, frustrations and passions run high as both must come to terms with what the other means to him.Night and Day is the gay love story I always wanted to see in the Pokémon universe, and now it’s here for you to read and enjoy. New chapters will be available every Sunday.
Relationships: Chance - Relationship, Espeon - Relationship, Umbreon - Relationship, tyler - Relationship
Series: Journeys in Evos [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2066472
Kudos: 3





	1. The Haunted Mansion

**Author's Note:**

> As a brief note, all trainers in the Evos region leave on their pokemon journey at the age of eighteen.
> 
> Let me know what you think about the story. Connect with me on Twitter or Instagram @knightley_jack - would love to chat :)

**Present**

Gengar appeared out of the shadows, a shadow ball prepared to blast Chance and Ninetales. Ninetales growled, opened her mouth, and fired a blast of ember at the gengar. The ghost pokemon siphoned back into the wall, its purple, ghostly body becoming one with the solid, hand-carved mahogany.

“Damn,” Chance said. “C’mon, Ninetales, let’s try the next room.”

The haunted mansion creaked as Chance and Ninetales walked through the lavish sitting room into the next room. Instead of a local gym, Erteek Town had the haunted mansion, a house that sat on the top of a hill north of the village and was populated by ghost pokemon. To get the Gem, the prize of every gym or challenge in the Magenta League, the trainer had to fight their way to the center of the house—or at least, that’s what the legends around town said. Chance looked out the window and saw lights twinkling on in the town. Per the rules, he had entered the house at dusk and had until dawn to find the Gem.

The room they entered was a library. Bookcases covered the walls, and spiderwebs crawled across the ancient tomes. Two wing-back chairs flanked a fireplace that had not been lit for a very long time, attested by the dust covering the mantel and base. Chance crossed the rug—of Kanto design, he thought—and started perusing the books, while Ninetales sniffed around the corners of the room. Flicking on the flashlight to his pokegear, Chance read the titles of the books. _Hunting with Haunter_ , _Ghosting a Ghastly_ , _The Memoirs of Agatha_ , _Mysterious Misdreavus_. They fit well with the mansion’s theme.

“Where do you think the Gem is, N—”

Ninetales’s loud growl cut Chance short. He whipped around to watch as a haunter rose from the floor—the same Haunter with a long gash across its left eye that he and Ninetales had beaten at the entryway to the mansion. It looked like the ghost pokemon could heal between rooms, since he had soundly beaten Haunter earlier, which meant that Chance wouldn’t know which he had beaten or which were left. Another obstacle for this gym.

“Use psychic,” Chance yelled.

Ninetales’s eyes began to glow, but Haunter moved faster. Darting in next to her face, Haunter licked, causing Ninetales to lose focus and her body to go rigid all over.

“Shake it off.”

The paralyzation from the lick attack didn’t take, and Ninetales opened her mouth, blasting flame at Haunter. Haunter disappeared before the flames hit him, but the flamethrower struck the fireplace, igniting it. As soon as the fire began and flickering light washed over the room, Chance heard a loud creaking noise at one of the back bookcases. Looking over, he saw the bookcase open up into a new room.

“Good job, Ninetales,” Chance said, rubbing her white fur. Her tails wagged at the praise.

Next to the fireplace, Chance spotted unlit torches. He had his pokegear to light the way, but its battery could die before reaching the Ghost Gem at the end of the haunted gym. Better safe than sorry, he thought as he picked up a thick, wooden torch and lit the top in the fire. The torch instantly lit, the white rag on its top doused in oil.

“Let’s go,” Chance said to Ninetales, who was sniffing at the new passage.

The torch illuminated a tunnel that led into the hill beneath the haunted mansion. Shadows danced on wood and then dirt as the tunnel turned from stairs to a downward-sloped path. Chance’s stomach tightened at each turn, expecting a duskull or misdreavus to jump out at any twist or turn. But nothing happened. The tunnel soon formed into stairs again that ended in a door.

Embossed on the door was a gigantic gengar surrounded by all types of ghost pokemon flying toward it. Chance’s stomach dropped. None of his pokemon could dynamax—he hadn’t visited the Galar region yet to learn about that certain phenomenon—and the gengar looked as though it could. Hopefully this was just an image of potentiality rather than actuality.

“You ready to face whatever is in there?” Chance asked Ninetales.

Ninetales responded by touching her nose to the door.

Instead of opening out toward Chance or into whatever lay ahead of them, the door rose from the ground into the ceiling, revealing a large, echoing darkness. Chance walked in and looked to the left and the right, his torchlight casting flitting shadows in a circle around him. A bracket on the wall was empty, so he hefted the torch into it. Suddenly, torches all around the cavern sparked to life, illuminating a giant, underground coliseum: the gym part of this gym, where Chance was supposed to defeat the gym leader and obtain the badge, a copy of the large Gem that it protected.

The only problem was there were no people in the seats or a person standing across the battlefield. It was completely empty. Dread spread through more of his stomach as he stepped up to the challenger’s side of the battlefield. For the fifth time that day, Chance wished Tyler were still with him. Tyler had given him courage in the dark spots. A firm squeeze of the hand would’ve driven away the darkest dread creeping up inside him. But Tyler was gone, left, never—No. Chance shook the thought from his head. He wanted Tyler to return.

If this was a gym battlefield, it meant the leader was somewhere. So . . .

“Ninetales, go!” Chance pointed to the battlefield.

Ninetales cocked her head to the side, confused about what exactly to do. She was also used to there being more people in attendance. But, her unflinching loyalty to Chance won through, and she jumped onto the field. Dust flew into the air, disrupting the peace of the simple field that was just a stretch of dirt with no obstacles. A shadow covered the leader’s side of the field, and purple ears poked out of the ground. Gengar—this one larger than normal, but not quite as large as the one on the door—rose from the shadow. Its big smile made Chance feel very uncomfortable. But he had made it this far in his journey, and he could handle this new obstacle.

The door on the other side of the field remained closed. Chance thought the leader might come out of that side, but instead Gengar’s shadow began to grow. It crept up the side of the field into the surrounding seats. The audience’s seats were built into the side of the hill and surrounded Chance on all sides. Soon, the shadow covered the entire audience area of the stadium, and ghost pokemon of all forms rose from it, populating the seat with an eerie silence. They all stared at the scene with wide eyes and glazed looks. Except, Chance noticed, the same haunter with the gash over one eye. Haunter smiled right at Chance.

A shiver ran down Chance’s back. Gengar raised its small hand and beckoned, as if inviting Chance to begin the battle.

“Okay,” Chance said, taking the hint. Apparently, for whatever reason, the gym leader must be hiding. “Ninetales, flamethrower.”

Fire shot from Ninetales’s mouth and flew toward Gengar. Gengar’s smile widened as it drifted back into its shadow. The fire hit the rock on the other side of the field, melting part of the door. Gengar’s shadow lengthened on the ground.

“Hit the shadow,” Chance yelled, pointing to the drifting darkness.

Ninetales fired at the shadow as it started toward her. Growling, Ninetales leapt away from it—but not fast enough. Hands shot from it, grabbed her legs, and pulled her to the ground. Gengar rose out of the shadow and placed his foot on Ninetale’s neck, crushing into it. Ninetales cried out.

“Psyshock,” Chance commanded from the side. Gengar was right where he wanted him.

Ninetales’s eyes glowed and a ray from them struck Gengar, making it fly back off of Ninetales. Gengar hit the wall, but before hitting the ground, it flipped over and fired a shadow ball at Ninetales. Before she or Chance could react, the fast-moving ball of dark energy struck Ninetales square in the face, throwing her against the wall.

For the sixth time that day—maybe seventh—Chance wished Tyler were there, for the support and the love he used to offer.

“Return,” Chance said, bringing out Ninetales’s pokeball.

Chance pulled out his last pokeball. All of his other pokemon—Espeon and Azumarill—had come close to feinting earlier as he made his way up to the haunted mansion, battling the guards to the gym.

“Go, Luxio!” Chance yelled, his final pokemon entering the depths of the mansion.


	2. Water and Fire

**One Year Ago**

Chance gripped the railing of the audience part of the gym auditorium. A growlithe—a _fire_ pokemon, for goodness’ sake—jumped from floating platform to floating platform, watching the water for the starmie to spring up and attack. Why would this trainer even think a fire-type would do well in a water-focused gym? Had he not known the focus of the gym? How could anyone _not_ know? The gym housed the Aqua Gem and was located in Vintil City, a city with a series of canals, a city that used boats to get from one door to another. This trainer must be the stupidest in the world, Chance thought. And yet, the challenge of the battle—a lone fire pokemon against a mighty water pokemon—excited him like nothing else could.

Chance looked over at the challenging trainer. He might have been stupid, but he was very handsome too, Chance thought. Wearing jeans, a black shirt, and a yellow vest, the trainer had brown hair and a focused face. Even from the crowd, Chance could tell he—Tyler, Chance remember the referee saying—was considering all possible moves at once. The close-up on the jumbo screen above the arena showed his eyes darting all around, looking at every spot on the water-filled battlefield.

Water splashed, pulling Chance’s attention away from the beautiful boy and back to the match. Starmie fired water gun at Growlithe, but Growlithe, faster than a normal one, dodged it by jumping to another platform. The jump pushed the platform Growlithe had been standing on into another platform. The two floated side bye side now until they were joined by a third as Growlithe dodged another water gun.

“Your pokemon is fast,” Lily, the gym leader, called out to Tyler.

According to the Magenta League Guide, Lily was the newest gym leader in the League, having taken over from her mom who had decided to go on her own adventure to the Orange Islands. Lily’s black hair was tied back in a braid, and she wore a loose-fitting shirt over a swimsuit. Her relaxed stance was different than the other gym leaders Chance had faced, which made him a little nervous for when he would be challenging her.

“When there’s a type disadvantage, you have to do something,” Tyler responded, shrugging.

It was such a smart, yet coy, response that Chance almost melted.

Starmie jumped out of the water again and attacked with swift. Energized stars hit the platform Growlithe had just been on. The attack pushed the platform off its intended trajectory. Chance quickly glanced at Tyler, who started to furrow his brow and bite his bottom lip. Chance had a passing thought of Tyler biting his lips, but that disappeared quickly as Tyler called out an attack.

“Headbutt!”

Growlithe launched himself at Starmie before Starmie could respond. The headbutt slammed Starmie back into the water, and Growlithe flipped in the air, landing on the platform that had gone off course. The momentum of his landing forced the platform to move against the others.

“Getting closer land won’t help you,” Lily taunted as Growlithe continued to jump from platform to platform, forming them into the shape of a doughnut.

A small part of Chance—the hopeless romantic he kept bottled up tight in his big toe—hoped that was a sign to him. After all, doughnuts were his favorite food.

“Oh?” Tyler said cockily. “Watch and learn then.”

“Starmie,” Lily called out. “Hydropump.”

In the middle of the doughnut of platforms, Starmie jumped out of the pool and blasted water from its top, purple spout. Growlithe ran around the circle, but Starmie started to turn in the air. A torrent of water shot from below Starmie to keep it airborne as it turned its hydropump on the retreating Growlithe.

“Ember,” Tyler called out calmly, again and again. “Ember. Ember. Ember.”

Chance was surprised at Tyler and Growlithe’s grace under pressure. But what most surprised him was where Growlithe was attacking. Instead of firing at Starmie, Growlithe lit the platforms on fire. The hydropump was so pressurized that when it hovered over the fire Growlithe lit on each platform only a few droplets of water would fall and then be consumed by the flames that were steadily growing.

Chance opened his mouth to cheer—this match was turning into a wild one—but just as he did, the powerful hydropump from the starmie hit the wall beneath where he was standing at the railing. The water soaked him, forcing him to return to his seat, completely wet.

“Fire spin!” Tyler shouted over the crackling of the platforms.

Chance rubbed away the water from his glasses quickly enough to see Growlithe’s fire attack consume the burning platforms and make the fire rise in a vortex of flame surrounding Starmie.

“Starmie, rain dance,” Lily called out.

At the same time, Tyler yelled, “Headbutt.”

Rain clouds began to form above the open-ceiling gym as Growlithe dove through the flaming vortex. Not wanting to miss anything, Chance jumped up from his seat, causing water droplets to spray over his fellow audience members, and raced to the top of the stands.

He made it in time to witness Growlithe burst through the flames and send Starmie cascading into the fiery circle. Growlithe followed, using bite as the fire caused Starmie’s water to evaporate.

The rain dance came too late. As soon as the deluge started, causing the flames to die out, the audience to be soaked, and the platforms to char in its wake, Starmie had feinted.

“Starmie is unable to battle. Growlithe is the winner,” the ref called out.

Lily returned Starmie to its pokeball.

“That was a good strategy,” Lily said.

“Thank you.” Tyler dipped his head toward her.

Lily opened her mouth to say more, but a loud crack stopped her. The platform Growlithe was on broke, sending Growlithe howling into the water. Growlithe paddled to stay afloat, but Tyler ended his panicked yelps by returning him to his pokeball.

“Growlithe is unable to battle,” the ref said. “One more pokemon each. Lily first.”

“I guess you didn’t think that all the way through.” Lily smirked as another platform collapsed. “The platforms won’t be replaced, just in case you were hoping for that. Hope you have a pokemon who can swim.”

Chance looked over at Tyler, but his face remained in that nonchalant, handsome smile.

“Go, Mantine,” Lily shouted, throwing her next pokeball.

“Umbreon, come on out,” Tyler shouted at the same time, as though he didn’t care the pokemon Lily sent out.

The crowd gasped. In the Evos region, each trainer was given an eevee at the beginning of their pokemon adventure. Having an evolved form this early on his journey was rare—having an umbreon was even rarer. That was almost as rare as having an espeon, one of which was safely resting in Chance’s pokeballs on his belt. He decided, standing on the top of the bleachers, that he _needed_ to meet this guy and at least get to know him. Maybe go on a date, maybe not, but this Tyler was fascinating to him.

Lily took the surprise in stride. Mantine tackled Umbreon, but Umbreon hopped lightly from burnt platform to burnt platform, barely setting foot on them. The rain from Starmie’s rain dance continued to sprinkle the battlefield and the spectators.

“Shadow ball,” Tyler commanded. Calmly. Handsomely.

The black orb formed in Umbreon’s mouth and then shot at Mantine, swimming quickly beneath the surface of the water. Usually an attack into the water slowed or weakened, but the ball, staticky with dark energy, shot through the water and hit Mantine squarely in the face.

“Mantine is unable to battle. Tyler wins the battle.”

The crowd cheered, Chance loudest of all. He _had_ to meet this guy. Cute, capable, and, hopefully, charming—exactly what he was looking for in a traveling companion.

By the time he exited the gym and asked around about Tyler, he learned that Tyler had left quickly, moving on to Violet City to earn the Bright Badge. Cursing because he hadn’t caught up with the cute boy and he had to stay in Vintil City to win the Aqua Badge himself, he went into the forest to train Shinx. He was _going_ to win that Badge quickly so he could catch up to Tyler and challenge him to a battle of Umbreon versus Espeon and hopefully get to know him just a little bit better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New stories every Sunday night! Let me know what you think about the Evos region and Chance and Tyler’s story. Follow me on social media @knightley_jack and let me know.
> 
> Chapter Three: Light in the Darkness, which returns us to the present and Chance and Luxio's descent into the Haunted Mansion, will be published next Sunday, December 27, 2020.


	3. Light in the Darkness

**Present**

Luxio dodged another shadow ball from Gengar, who disappeared back into the shadows as soon as Chance called out a counterattack. Sweat matted Luxio’s blue and black fur as he breathed heavily, panting despite the coolness of the battlefield. The ghost pokemon in the stands were eerily silent, watching as Gengar appeared and tried to attack Luxio again.

“Don’t dodge—strike,” Chance called out, frustrated at how the battle was going.

If only he had Espeon—or Tyler and Umbreon. He’d _hoped_ he might run into the two of them here, even though the last time they had met it hadn’t been on the best of terms. He knew with Tyler cheering him on and Espeon’s strength, he would be able to make it through any trial. But Espeon was tired, having fought a trainer on the hill up to the mansion, and Tyler was gone (even though Chance still hoped reconciliation would be easy).

Electric shock sparked from Luxio’s fur and struck Gengar. The gengar cried out at the same time the shadow ball struck Luxio.

“Luxio, are you okay?” Chance called out.

Luxio stood up, legs shaking. Gengar, angry, shot another shadow ball at Luxio. Luxio jumped away and responded with a thunder shock that struck Gengar. Gengar melded back into the shadows, its large smile disappearing from its body.

 _Think, Chance, think_. _Gengar is using the shadows to hide. How do I—_

“Luxio, jump and use flash.”

Following the order, Luxio leaped into the air. Luxio’s fur became luminous. Chance’s glasses darkened, blacking out the bright light bursting from Luxio. The light eliminated the shadows and revealed Gengar stalking toward Luxio.

“There you are. Thunder!”

Luxio’s fur charged quickly, lightning surging around his entire body. The thunder attack blasted Gengar, covering its whole body. The light from flash disappeared, and Gengar went down on one knee, the lightning attack hitting its mark.

“Is that it?” Chance asked, even though he knew no one would respond.

It wasn’t it.

Luxio began to glow. His legs and paws lengthened as his body increased in size and electricity. When the light of evolution disappeared, a luxray stood where Luxio used to. He crouched and growled at Gengar, ready to continue the battle.

Gengar’s entire body shrugged and then sunk into the shadows. Chance and Luxray prepared for another attack, but none came. Instead, a loud rumbling from across the field echoed around the ampitheater. The door behind Gengar’s side of the field rose into the ceiling above it, indicating to Chance that the battle was over—for now.

“Good job, Luxray,” Chance said, walking onto the field.

Around him, in the stands, the spectating ghost pokemon began to disappear, some sinking into the flickering shadows, others flying through the roof of the cave. Before they disappeared, each pokemon quickly turned into something—something human. Chance focused more as a ghastly disappeared, and, sure enough, the ghastly popped into a human form and then back into its pokemon form.

As he focused on the other transforming and disappearing pokemon, Chance started to recognize them. A shuppet became the man running the local pokecenter. Drifblim became one of the kids Chance had seen playing in the trees. A duskull became one of the trainers chance had battled on his way up the hill.

The entire village beneath the haunted mansion was populated by ghost pokemon wearing human outfits.

Chance shivered.

“The Ghost Gem,” Chance said, needing to talk it out with someone and only finding Luxray at his side as he walked to the other side of the field and into the tunnel that led upward. “It must be protected by ghost pokemon, and so they chose to be its defenders. The League must have just allowed it, and someone, I assume, must place the badges at the base of the Gem or something.” He patted Luxray on the head. “Good job evolving, by the way.”

Luxray’s deep, strong, and content growl accepted the praise happily.

The upward tunnel past the door leveled out, and Chance came to another door. This one was embossed with a dusknoir and a mismagius. Dials were built beneath both pokemon engravings.

“It’s rather fiscally responsible of the League, not having to maintain a gym and a leader here.” Chance walked over to the mismagius engraving. Luxray growled in warning, through, so Chance changed his mind and twisted the dial under the dusknoir.

The door vibrated and then parted in the middle, opening into a large room. Chance entered a gigantic ballroom. At the other side, enthroned in the wall, a large purple Gem glowed in the moonlight cast through the glass ceiling. Chance definitely hadn’t seen this large of a building connected to the haunted mansion when he was climbing the hill—perhaps he was on the other side of the hill, in an annexed building. Around him, tall, glass walls revealed a dark forest, and the little cloud cover for the night made the entire room sparkle from the starlight raining down. But Chance barely registered it all because beneath the Gem, he saw his prize: a basket of badges for those who could cross the ballroom and get them.

“Keep an eye out—Dusknoir will probably attack soon.” Just as Gengar had been his adversary in the battlefield inside the hill, Chance assumed the dial was what decided the opponent in the ballroom.

Chance and Luxray began their walk across the ballroom. Out of the corner of his eye, Chance kept seeing purple and brown shades, but just glimpses, nothing more. Suddenly, a shadow appeared in front of him and Luxray. Gengar’s pointed ears and then full body rose from it. A pop sounded and Mismagius appeared in the air next to it. A silhouette walked toward them, the outline of a pokemon that solidified—as much as it could—into a smaller than normal dusknoir.

Luxray jumped in front of Chance, lowering his body into an aggressive stance and emitting a low, warning growl.

It seemed, Chance surmised, that to get the ghost badge, it was going to be three against one. The rules must have changed. Of course, what could he expect, picking the gym without the gym leader?

 _Bring it on_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to follow me on Twitter or Instagram, @knightley_jack - next week's chapter will be posted on Sunday, January 3, 2021. Hope you all have a happy new year! Chapter Four, "Night Falls," sees Chance traveling with Espeon through Eltain Forest. He runs across a baby teddiursa and things get a little wild when Momma Ursaring shows up.


	4. Night Falls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten months ago, Chance and Espeon try to find their way through Eltain Forest. As night falls, he runs across a baby teddiursa and its not-so-happy mother. Fire erupts - in more ways than one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize that this one is coming a little later than planned. My last few days have not been the best since I was out with some terrible back pain. 
> 
> Let me know what you think so far of the Evos region and Chance and Tyler’s story. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter to talk - @knightley_jack

**Ten Months Ago**

Eltain Forest, Chance decided, was fine during the morning and afternoon. Various bug pokemon scuffled in the trees. A sentret, its brown fur matted with burs, jumped from one tree to another. He even saw a sawsbuck and stantler butting heads. But as dusk began to fall on the green leaves around him, it started to grow foreboding. Something, he was sure, was out there, waiting to pounce.

Espeon kept close to Chance, the bead on his head flashing in the resolute light that peeked through the trees. Chance’s eyes darted around, and he jumped at every twig crack or rustle of branches.

“We need to find a place to stop soon,” Chance told Espeon. “I thought for sure we would be out of here by now.”

A loud crunching caused Espeon and Chance to turn on their heels to face whatever was coming at them. The shadows moved and then solidified into a small teddiursa, its brown fur melding with the dappled darkness.

“Cute,” Chance said.

Teddiursa reached a paw into its mouth, and Chance almost lost it at the cuteness. He reached down to touch it, but Espeon headbutted him backward. A moment later, yellow energy shot from the night, passing through where Chance had just been standing. The energy crackled with lightning. A hyper beam.

Chance fell back in shock, but Espeon kept moving. His eyes glowed purple as he used psychic to lift Chance away from the impending battle. Another yellow blast shot toward Espeon. Chance cried out, and Espeon barely jumped out of the way. The shadows of the forest began to flicker as a fire sparked to life, the dry leaves igniting from the raw energy.

“Shit,” Chance said. “We need to stop that—”

Chance was cut off as a giant ursaring stepped in front of her cub, Teddiursa. Ursaring roared a challenge into the night, a cry of defense and warning.

“We weren’t trying to harm—” Chance swore as he jumped out of the path of another oncoming hyper beam. This one tore through more trees, igniting the dry woods, lighting the darkened night.

“Go, Ninetales, Marill, and Shinx,” Chance called out, sending his entire team of pokemon out of their pokeballs.

The three pokemon appeared in flashes of white light and looked around, taking in the scene. Ninetales bristled, while Marill’s and Shinx’s faces grew stoic.

“Ninetales, help Espeon calm down Ursaring, but don’t use any fire attacks,” Chance said, wishing, for the first time in his life, that he had started his pokemon journey in Alola so Ninetales would know some ice moves. “Shinx, run around and wake up any pokemon in the area who might be in the fire’s path. Marrill, with me.”

The pokemon nodded in understanding. Ninetales’s eyes glowed as she joined Espeon’s psychic attack against Ursaring, who, at least for now, seemed subdued. Shinx ran into the bushes, crying out and lighting up the night with sparking, electric energy.

“The fire looks like it’s worse over here,” Chance said, running to where it blazed over a particularly large tree. “Water gun!”

Marill jumped up, and a stream of water shot from her mouth. The fire sizzled as it ate up Marill’s stream of water, becoming steam. As Marill kept fighting the fire, a cry sounded from Espeon.

“Keeping working on the fire,” Chance told Marill, turning to deal with the battle between his pokemon and a momma ursaring.

It was not going well. Espeon lay on the forest floor, Ninetales in front of him, bristling against the oncoming fury of not one but two ursaring—the mom and the dad, Chance guessed.

“Umbreon, feint attack!”

Out of the darkness, a shape of black and yellow darted toward the two ursaring. The attack struck the larger of the two, ending the charge.

“Take down, Growlithe.”

An orange shape launched itself from the trees, taking out the second ursaring. Out of the trees stepped Tyler, dressed in a black shirt and green vest that helped him meld into the darkness. He pointed to Ninetales and sent a small aron, hiding near his feet, over to her.

“Are you okay?” Tyler asked.

A shiver passed down Chance’s spine as his stomach flipped. He ran a hand through his black hair awkwardly, even though he knew they were in a high-octane situation and he did _not_ need to feel discombobulated from attraction right now.

“Yeah,” he responded, lamely.

Hearing Espeon cry out, Chance walked over to his pokemon, his attention pulled away from the cute boy who had saved his life. _Literally_ , saved him. His heart was on cloud nine, but his mind had to be on the ground. Reaching Espeon, he pulled a rejuvenation berry from his bag and gave it to him.

“You don’t have a potion?” Tyler asked, pulling one out of his bag. He offered the spray bottle with its purple concoction to Chance.

“I don’t like using them because they cause a lot of pollution,” Chance responded.

“Well, that berry doesn’t seem to be hitting the spot.” Tyler knelt down, and before Chance could say anything, he sprayed half of the purple liquid on Espeon’s light pink coat. “It’s okay. The sin’ll be on me, and I’ll plant a tree later.” He smiled reassuringly at Chance. “You should return him to his pokeball and then we should get out of here.”

“But the fire,” Chance said, pulling out Espeon’s pokeball and returning him to it. “Do you have any water pokemon?”

“No.”

“Just follow me then. I have an idea.”

They rose from the ground and started toward the crackling forest fire. Tyler whistled loudly as they made their way into the woods.

“Umbreon and Growlithe will join us soon.”

“Growlithe won’t use any fire attacks?”

“What do you think I am? Stupid? Or Growlithe is?” Tyler said.

Chance stopped, nervous at Tyler’s tone. Tyler broke out into laughter.

“You actually don’t know who I am, and I don’t know who you are. I’m Tyler.”

He stuck out his hand. Instead of shaking it, Chance grabbed it and started running toward the fire. “I’m Chance,” he said as they ran to the edge of the flames. “And we don’t have time for formality.”

“A man of action, just what I like.”

 _That_ made Chance’s stomach do more flips, but there was more at stake here than his fluttering heart. Marill blasted the fire with water, but to little effect. The flames climbed the trees, eating hungrily at the dry wood. It had been a hot summer in the Evos region, which meant that Eltain was basically all kindling ready to be consumed. Tyler gripped Chance’s hand tighter; he had never let go.

“Woah,” he said.

“We need to stop it,” Chance said, reluctantly releasing his hand from Tyler’s. “Shinx.”

Shinx appeared out of the woods.

“Did you warn all the pokemon around here?”

Shinx nodded.

“Good job. Let’s try to throw dirt on the flames. It might help, even a little.”

Chance ran toward the fire, even though Tyler called out in surprise. With his feet, he kicked the dirt toward the small, fallen, flaming branches that were about to ignite more trees. Shinx and Ninetales moved off to other fallen, flaming branches, as Marill kept water gunning the large tree.

“We need to get out of here,” Tyler yelled over the crackling trees.

“No, we can stop it. See.” The flames on the branch died down. Chance had saved one part of the forest from lighting up.

“No, we can’t,” Tyler said. “Look at—out!”

Tyler ran toward Chance and tackled him. Another burning branch crashed into where Chance had just been standing. Sparks flew, catching the trees that Chance had just saved with flames that burst from the dry bark. Looking up, Chance saw the top of the tree above him had caught fire while he had been focused on the branch on the ground.

“Thank you,” Chance said, and then leaned forward and kissed Tyler.

Surprised at his own action, Chance ended the kiss quickly, even though Tyler had definitely responded well to the adrenaline-forced smooch. Blushing, Chance said, “I—I wish I could do more.”

Umbreon and Growlithe appeared out of the forest. They pulled with their teeth at Chance’s and Tyler’s pants, trying to encourage them to run away from the forest fire. Chance called out to Marill, Ninetales, and Shinx, admitting defeat.

The fire roared and blazed in front of them. It held an awesome and terrifying beauty within its flickering depths. Suddenly, all around them, a blue mist and melodic notes filled the forest. The mist was wet to the touch, and it seemed to attack the flames. As it connected with the flickering orange, both the mist and the fire dimmed and then died down, leaving a blackened forest in its wake.

Out of the mist, a pokemon began to coalesce. Its blue fur and purple mane flowed into a large pokemon, as tall as Chance.

“Suicune,” Tyler whispered in awe. His hand grasped Chance’s for support—and Chance thought, perhaps, something more. Connection in the face of awe.

“She’s beautiful.”

The mist seemed to come from Suicune’s body and emanated into the entire forest, encircling Chance, Tyler, and their pokemon. Suicune walked over to them, the mist parting for her. Chance looked into her green eyes in awe and wonder. In those depths were countless ages. Suicune bowed to them and then walked over to Marill. She dipped her head and touched her nose to Marill’s head.

Marill began to glow. When the light disappeared, a larger, blue-and-white speckled azumarill stood in her place. Azumarril trilled in delight, looking down at his new body. As he was checking out his new spots, the large ears, also new from the evolution, plopped over one of his eyes, making Azumarril trill in delight again.

A call echoed in the night, and Suicune took off into the blackened forest, leaving mist and starlight in her wake.

Tyler tightened his grip on Chance’s hand. “We should probably head out and find a place to camp.”

“We?”

“Yeah, it’s probably safer to, you know, travel with someone else.” Tyler let go of Chance’s hand and shrugged, stuffing his hands into the pockets on his vest. “Y’know, only if you want to.”

Chance hugged Tyler. “I’d love to! And thank you, again, for saving me.”

Tyler shrugged as if it were nothing, and the two new friends went in search of a safer place for the evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New stories every Sunday night! In the next chapter, we return to the present. Lightning strikes as Chance tries to save the gym from a mysterious new force on the horizon. Follow along @knightley_jack for updates on Instagram and Twitter.


	5. Lightning Strikes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luxray battles Mismagius and Dusknoir as Chance tries to obtain the Haunted Mansion's gym badge. When he's joined by a surprise guest, things get explosive.

**Present**

“Thunderbolt,” Chance yelled, a retaliatory attack to the two shadow balls fired from Mismagius and Dusknoir.

Lightning surrounded Luxray as he shot a thunderbolt at Mismagius. She faded into the darkness, the lightning missing. Beneath Luxray, Dusknoir’s hands shot out of the ground and grabbed onto Luxray.

“Shockwave,” Chance commanded. Sweat beaded on his forehead from the stress of watching the entire field, waiting for Mismagus or Dusknoir to appear from anywhere. His job as trainer was to watch the entire field and react appropriately to the changing situation.

Energy shot from Luxray’s body into the ground. Dusklop’s hands fell away, and he fell out of the shadow, paralyzed. Luxray attacked with another electrical shot. Out of the air, Mismagus materialized and slammed into Luxray, trying to hit him away.

“Lightning fang!”

Luxray’s fangs glowed, and he bit at Mismagus. The electricity coursed through her body, but Dusknoir, the paralysis worn off, shot a shadow ball at Luxray. The ball hit Luxray’s side, sending him flying into the wall.

“Shit,” Chance said.

“You didn’t used to swear,” a voice said from the door behind him. “Aggron, metal claw!”

Barreling into the ballroom, a large aggron, fist glowing, slammed into the dusknoir. Mismagus appeared behind Aggron, but his tail glowed, and he slammed it into her.

Tyler walked up next to chance. Emotions—excitement, betrayal, anger, love—welled up in Chance’s chest. They felt like they’d burst out in him tacking Tyler with an ursaring-sized hug, but, no, Tyler had left him. Said he needed space. Chance crushed the emotions into manageable, constant thrums in the back of his mind and returned his focus to the battle.

“When did Arron evolve?”

Tyler smirked, his dimples impressing into his cheeks as his upper front teeth teased themselves from beneath his upper lip—that upper lip that Chance had loved, still loved, to slide his tongue along.

“A lot has changed.”

Chance’s heartbeat quickened and his stomach flipped. Perhaps he was reading too much into it, or perhaps he was reading just enough. After all, Tyler was here, having followed him—he was with him now.

“Let’s win this thing,” Chance said, returning Tyler’s smirk with a full smile, which caused a blush to rise in Tyler’s cheeks.

“Rock slam,” Tyler yelled as Chance told Luxray to fill the ballroom with thunder.

Aggron summoned giant rocks to shoot out of the ground, entombing Mismagus and Dusknoir. Because they were summoned by Aggron, neither ghost-type pokemon could fade through them. Luxray jumped t othe top of one of the walls and filled the area between the rocks with lightning.

“Now, come on,” Chance said. He grabbed Tyler’s hand without thinking and ran toward the Ghost Gem hanging in the wall, their prizes, the badges, in the cup bneath. When they closed in on the Gem and the badge cup, a shadow covered the altar. Gengar’s purple body floated out of it, a mischievous grin on its wide mouth.

The Gem behind it began to glow, a DNA sequence shining in rainbow in the middle of it. Tyler gasped and clenched Chance’s hand. Usually, a pokemon could only reach a mega form with a trainer. But, in Evos, the Gems were tools of power—tools, Chance guessed, that allowed this to happen.

The mega form of Gengar, long arms extended in front, third eye staring right at us, climbed out of the light of evolution. Aggron and Luxray appeared in front of us, ready to fight. Sweat shined on their bodies, and their breath came raggedly. They were exhausted.

Two shadows formed next to Gengar, and Mismagus and Dusknoir rose. Three against two. Chance wanted to swear again, but didn’t—Tyler didn’t like it.

As the trio of ghost pokemon began to walk and float toward them, the ballroom began to shake. The ceiling blasted apart, sending shards of wood falling toward the dance floor. Tyler called out Aggron’s name and pulled Chance closer to him, shielding Chance’s body with his own. Aggron sped over to them and used his body to cover them from the falling debris.

Another explosion shook the room. Luxray crawled under Aggron’s protective body, having jumped around evading the explosion’s aftermath.

“I don’t think this is part of the gym.”

“Me neither,” Tyler said. “Good job, Aggron.”

The explosions stopped. Aggron stood up, wood falling off to the side. Chance looked around. The entire ballroom was in shambled. Shattered glass and lumber spread across a room that was now open to the sky.

The stars above blacked out and wind gusted around them as a helicopter appeared above the now-open roof of the ballroom. Gengar, Dusknoir, and Mismagus looked up, their attention diverted from the challengers. A door on the side of the helicopter opened, and the light of pokemon being called out of their pokeballs filled the night. A noctowl and crobat flew toward the ghost pokemon, engaging them in battle.

The pokemon trainer, a woman dressed in a black vest and white shirt, climbed down a ladder extending from the helicopter to the Gem. Her purple hair flew in the wind, and a shedinja circled her, just in case anything attacked.

“She’s going after the Gem,” Chance said.

“We need to stop her.”

Noticing Chance and Tyler running toward her, the woman turned to them and pulled out another pokeball. A glaceon appeared before them and growled, its blue fur bristling. As soon as Glaceon hit the ground, an ice beam shot toward us. The beam hit Aggron directly in the chest. Ice formed over his body. Before he was completely encapsulated, Tyler returned him to his pokeball.

Luxray growled and shot lightning at Glaceon. Chance was too focused on the woman and her sheinja to give him direction. The woman grabbed the Ghost Gem from its fallen pedestal.

“Chance!” Tyler called out, but Chance was too focused to notice.

Gengar appeared next to the Gem. In a fury, he attacked, but Shedinja blocked the attacks easily. The woman laughed as she placed the Gem in her briefcase. As soon as the case closed, Gengar reverted to his non-mega form. Surprised, Gengar wasn’t prepared as Shedinja attacked, slamming Gengar into the ground—again and again. Laughing, the woman retreated as Gengar fell back, solid, onto the floor, unable to disintegrate into the shadows.

Tyler shook Chance, forcing him to look away from the woman. Tyler pointed, and Chance saw Luxray engaged in battle with Glaceon and losing. Chance swore, but before he could guide luxray, the woman returned all of her pokemon to their pokeballs. The helicopter, with her now inside it, rose into the night.

“Why didn’t you focus on Luxray? We could have beaten her glaceon and saved the Gem,” Tyler yelled, his voice growing louder.

“No, we couldn’t have,” Chance responded, his voice rising to match Tyler’s.

Tyler snarled, “I—I just can’t right now.”

“Fine, then don’t.”

Chance turned away from Tyler and stalked away from the battle. This time, he was leaving in a fury, and for once, he was completely okay with that. He snatched a badge from the ones scattered on the ground and left the destruction, too angry to deal with his ex-boyfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading along with this fun little story! Follow me on Insta or Twitter @knightley_jack to learn when I post a new one. New chapters each Sunday. Next week, Chance and Tyler, a month into their traveling together, fight a double battle for their next gym badge--although the fighting might not be just on the battlefield.


	6. Double Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Travel partners Chance and Tyler battle together against the Valen Gym and its twin gym leaders. Will they earn the badge for the Bright Gem? And will the battle continue off the field when it's over?

**Nine Months Ago**

“This will be a double battle with Chance and Tyler attempting to defeat Nat and Nick of the Valen Gym,” the referee said from the side of the battle arena. They looked at the challengers. “Which pokemon do you choose to use?”

Tyler winked at Chance, and Chance grinned back. They were ready for this battle. They’d been through a lot since the forest fire and seeing Suicune—from roping a herd of tauros to stalking a pikachu to help an old woman find a lightning berry to battling multiple trainers across the forests and hills of the Evos region. The month was challenging, but the two had grown closer and closer, even though they traveled as just friends, having decided after the adrenaline-fueled kiss in the woods that their pokemon journeys were more important than romantically pursuing another person. After all, neither of them was looking specifically _for_ a relationship, they both had one all-encompassing goal: Evos Region Pokemon League Champion.

“I choose you, Arcanine,” Tyler called out into the gym.

The crowd clapped politely as Arcanine’s large, orange, furry form exited his pokeball. He roared, unhappy with the lackluster entrance. Arcanine liked the fervor of a raucous and excited crowd, but it seemed in Valen, the favor was given to the gym leaders. Chance was sure he—along with Ninetales—would be able to excite the crowd, despite being the challenger, especially after they showed off the moves they practiced.

“Ninetales, let’s do this,” Chance called out.

Ninetales appeared on the field of battle. The light of the Bright Gem, glowing brightly behind the twin gym leaders, reflected off of Ninetales’s fur, making it lustrous. She sat, prim and pristine, as though the battle were beneath her. Chance liked to describe her as precocious; Tyler used _stuck up_. But when it came time to fight, she was a blazing, psychic inferno.

“Nat and Nick, your turn.”

Across the battlefield, the gym leaders smiled. They were short, both with close-cropped hair that looked like a bowl lying on their heads.

“Nidoking, Nidoqueen,” the two said in unison, their voices completely flat and unemotionally.

A purple nidoking, larger than Arcanine, roared onto the battlefield, and the crowd went wild. Nidoqueen appeared next, her light blue skin hardened and tough, and the crowd got to their feet. Arcanine looked over his shoulder at Chance and Tyler, signaling his distaste for the crowd. Ninetales stood slowly, her tails rising. Chance knew she was probably narrowing her eyes, trying to scare the two gargantuan pokemon.

“Begin,” the referee yelled.

“Fire spin,” Tyler called out.

Arcanine opened his mouth and a spinning flame spewed from his mouth. The flame shot toward Nidoqueen.

“Dig,” Nat said in the same monotone.

Nidoqueen submerged herself in the rock.

“Psychic,” Chance called out.

Ninetales’s eyes glowed white. Psychic energy surrounded Arcanine’s fire spin and redirected it toward Nidoking. The twin gym leaders audibly gasped, which caused Chance to smirk, grateful the practice had paid off. Despite no direction from his trainers, Nidoking dodged behind a giant rock on the battlefield. The fire spin slammed into the rock, but Ninetales had trained for this. She redirected the fire spin again, causing it to separate into two flows that circled the rock and struck the hiding Nidoking.

Chance let out a whoop of excitement as the crowd sat shocked.

“You go, Ninetales!”

“Pay attention to the field,” Tyler chastised, but too late.

The ground rumbled, and Nidoqueen shot out from beneath Arcanine. She struck him with her horn, sending him flying into the air.

“Rock smash,” Nat said from across the field.

Nidoqueen turned on Ninetales and lugged a giant rock across the field. Ninetales dodged, but a second rock, from Nidoking, flew at where she landed. The rock hit her, sending her careening across the field.

Nidoqueen lifted another huge boulder to throw at Ninetales.

“Take down,” Tyler yelled.

A rush of orange fur crossed the field and slammed into Nidoqueen. The rock she was lifting fell, grazing her side.

“Flamethrower,” Tyler said solemnly.

Flames engulfed Nidoqueen. She cried out, and a red light from the twin gym leader’s pokeball recalled her from the field.

“Headbutt,” Nick yelled.

Out of nowhere, Nidoking shot at Arcanine, hitting him in the stomach. Arcanine fell to the ground.

“Stomp,” Nat commanded.

Nidoking jumped on the fallen arcanine, who roared out in pain.

“Poison shot,” Nick said.

“No, you don’t,” Chance said. “Psyblast!”

Purple rings shot out of Ninetales’s eyes, blasting Nidoking off Arcanine.

“Fire spin!” Tyler yelled.

Arcanine rose and opened his mouth. Fire spewed from the open maw. Ninetales walked over to Arcanine, opened her own mouth, and spewed fire at Nidoking. The nidoking tried to burrow, but the torrential inferno reached him too fast.

The red light from the twin gym leaders’ pokeball signaled the end of the battle.

“Tyler and Chanace are the winners!” The ref called from the sidelines, raising their red flags.

Elated, the two grinning trainers embraced. A warmth, not from the field but from the feelings he felt toward Tyler, burned inside Chance. As soon as they were too close, their lips hovering near each other’s, they separated. Staying strictly friends, Chance knew, was getting more and more difficult.

The two trainers walked out onto the field and congratulated their pokemon, who hummed and purred happily, soaked in sweat. Ninetales and Arcanine returned to their pokeballs, and Chance and Tyler crossed the rest of the field.

Nick and Nat congratulated them on a battle well fought. The Bright Gem glittered in the wall with a bowl of badges beneath it.

Chance looked closer at the Gem. Something about it wasn’t right. The edges stuck out of the wall. Near those edges, various scuff marks and gashes covered the wall—almost as if the Gem had been taken out of the wall and then put back.

“What’s up with the Gem?” He asked.

Nick’s face fell as Nat closed their eyes, a pained expression covering their face.

Nick spoke first. “It was . . . stolen.”

“Stolen? How?” Tyler asked.

“A few weeks ago, we came home from a party,” Nat said, their eyes looking longingly at the fake Gem. “The gym was trashed, and the real Bright Gem stolen.”

“The authorities are looking for it, but we couldn’t just close the gym,” Nick added.

“If you discover anyone who knows its whereabouts in your journey, could you let us know?”

“Of course,” Tyler said.

“Why would anyone want a Gem? Aren’t they just for show?” Chance asked, taking his badge from the bowl in front of the fake Bright Gem. Even though it was fake, it was still very, very bright.

“The Gems have power—power that is distilled into your badges.”

“With one Gem, nefarious actors could cause a lot of havoc.”

“We’ll keep our eyes out,” Tyler promised, picking up his own badge.

“Thank you,” Nick said.

“And good luck on your continued adventures,” Nat said, their smile spreading from ear to ear.

Chance threw his arm around Tyler’s back as they exited the gym, badges in hand. Tyler, uncomfortable, shouldered out of Chance’s embrace. Chance frowned as Tyler walked a little faster than Chance.

“Hey,” Chance called after him. “What’s up?”

Tyler stopped and then stepped off to the side of the street. Around them, people and pokemon milled about. A Mr. Mime carried an umbrella for a couple, while an electrike was pulled along on by a leash. A trio of Machamp, Machoke, and Machop carried large parcels, and an officer with a pikachu directed traffic a little way up around a crashed bicycle. Chance dodged a gardevoir floating down the road to catch up with where Tyler had stopped.

“What’s up?” Chance repeated, worried. He reached out his hand to rub Tyler’s arm, but Tyler pulled away. “Was it the battle? Was it me? Was it your breakfast? You have to talk to me so I know what’s bothering you.” Chance could feel the heat beginning to race to his face as he became more and more heated.

“Yes,” Tyler said, his eyes wet. “Yes, it was you. You weren’t paying attention.”

He knew he’d asked for them, but the words stung. And when something stung Chance, he wanted to fight back. “When?” Chance asked. He couldn’t recall things as well as Tyler could. The battle had been a blur. “When was I not paying attention?”

Tyler let out an exasperated sigh and walked away. He maneuvered behind a few miltank who were walking down the busy street. Chance jumped around two tauros who were pulling a cart. He saw Chance’s yellow vest disappear into a side alley, so, dodging some mankey running around, Chance followed him.

“Tyler—Tyler, stop.”

Tyler’s shoulders bunched up, but he reluctantly turned around to face Chance.

“Look,” Chance said, closing the gap between them. “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Chance sighed. He _really_ liked Tyler—they were a great team together, he was super handsome, and they got along really well—but they needed to work on their communication skills. Releasing another sigh, Chance tried to relax his stance. He rubbed his hands up and down Tyler’s arms.

“No, it’s not, and we need to talk about it.”

“Fine.”

“But not here.”

Tyler stiffly nodded and then followed Chance, making their way through the maze of streets until they found a small, secluded park. Some oddish poked around some red lumps in the tall grass in the park, which looked as though it hadn’t been groomed for a while. A rickety bench sat at the edge of the grass, so Chance sat and patted the spot next to him. Tyler reluctantly sat next to him.

Not being good at having conversations, Chance jumped right in. “Okay, I did some stuff wrong in that battle.”

Tyler nodded, his lips thin.

“What were they? I can’t seem to remember, so...” He paused, remembering that his own parents had always tried to use _I_ sentences when talking to each other and to him and his siblings. Taking a deep breath, he continued,” I can’t seem to remember, so I need some help in understanding how I messed up.”

The change in Chance’s tone seemed to relax Tyler. He slouched back, exiting his defensive position. “You don’t pay attention to the entire field.”

Chance flinched. He knew that was one of his biggest problems when battling; he got so into what his pokemon was doing that he didn’t look around him. Tyler was much better at doing that.

“We almost lost that battle because you weren’t paying attention, and then Arcanine was hurt from Nidoqueen.”

Hanging his head in contrition, Chance said, “I’m sorry.”

“Like I said, it’s okay, it’s just difficult. I remember being with Sylvester, and we got along really well.”

Chance winced. Sylvester had been Tyler’s traveling partner before Chance. A flying trainer, Sylvester, from what Chance could piece together, had been a daring and exciting trainer. Chance was sure Tyler still had feelings for him, which is another reason Chance was weary of starting anything more than friendship with Tyler. From what Tyler would reveal about Sylvester, they had gotten physical quicker than Tyler had been willing to go and that had pushed them apart.

“But I’m with you now,” Tyler said, resting his hand on Chance’s shoulder. Chance looked up to Tyler smiling at him. “And we’ll both get better than we were before.”

Tyler, for once, wrapped his arms around Chance. They hugged on the bench, Chance resting his head in the crook of Tyler’s shoulder. Chance sighed contentedly. It might be difficult and challenging, but it was worth it.

The ground beneath their feet began to rumble.

“What was that?”

Spores began to fill the air.

“Quick, cover your mouth.”

Chance _wanted_ to cover his mouth and Tyler’s at the same time doing a _certain_ activity, but now wasn’t the time to think about that. He grabbed a bandana from his backpack and tied it around his face. Tyler did the same. The yellow spores covered the park. Chance and Tyler looked behind the bench and saw two rather angry vileplume rising from the ground.

“Oh, great,” Tyler said.

Chance looked to either side for an easy escape, but for some reason the oddish had formed a ring around the park. There was no escape.

“Guess we’re just going to have to do something about this,” Chance said.

Tyler nodded. They pulled out their pokeballs.

“Go, Umbreon!” Tyler said.

“Espeon, come on out,” Chance said.

Bright light filled with the forms of Umbreon and Espeon. They both trilled as they exited their pokeballs.

“Act fast,” Chance said, “Espeon, psychic to control the wave of sleeping pollen.”

Espeon’s eyes glowed purple. She swished her tail, focusing. Psychic energy surrounded the pollen and made it lift higher, leaving them with room to breathe again. This did _not_ leave the vileplume happy though. Their faces scrunched up as they huffed about. One of the vileplume began to gather energy into themselves.

“Umbreon, feint attack,” Tyler called out.

Umbreon ran toward the vileplume gathering energy. The other vileplume’s fist began to glow, preparing for a punch. Umbreon feinted to the side. The vileplume missed, and Umbreon tackled the vileplume preparing solar beam, interrupting it.

“Yeah!” Tyler said, jumping up and down.

Chance, though, was watching the rest of the field. He called out to Espeon, “Watch out! Psybeam!”

Espeon jumped into the air. Psychic energy gathered in the forehead beam and shot at several gloom that had been gathering behind vileplume, prearing to attack Umbreon.

“Thank you,” Tyler said, “I didn’t see them.”

Chance smirked. He did learn from his mistakes, and he was glad that he could show Tyler that he did.

“Let’s finish them off and get out of here.”

“Together,” Tyler agreed. “Shadow ball, Umbreon, on the oddish.”

Umbreon turned and shot a ball of shadow energy at the oddish. They exploded from the ground, being flung across the street. They lay, dazed, not able to reengage in the battle.

“Come on,” Tyler said, grabbing Chance’s hand and leading him away from the park and back onto their journey, together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks, as always, for reading along with this pokemon adventure! Feel free to follow me on Instagram or Twitter, @knightley_jack, to be updated when I publish more stories, and to let me know how you're liking the story.
> 
> Next chapter, "Eclipse," will take us to a pokeinn where Chance is recovering from the haunted mansion attack. Tyler shows up with Umbreon, both wounded, and Chance must unravel the mystery of what happened. Next chapter will have mature content, just as a head's up. I'll have a note on the top of the section too. It'll be published January 24, 2021!


	7. Eclipse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Recuperating at a pokeinn, Chance tries to recover from what happened at the Haunted Mansion and deal with running into Tyler again. A sudden knock at the door brings Tyler back into his life—and not in the best way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains explicit sexual material.

**Present**

“They call themselves Team Eclipse,” Tabitha said, wiping one of the last tables in the pokeinn. Chance had become fast friends with her after helping to remove a drunk patron from the common room. He had taken a room for the night—all pokeinns were supported by the government of the Evos region for wary travelers. He hoped the inn was far, far away from Tyler. He still seethed with frustration after what happened at the haunted mansion.

“And they’re stealing Gems?” Chance asked.

Tabitha looked at her rattata, who sat in a stupor on the table, having had a sip of Tabitha’s unusually strong lager. She rubbed his belly, to which he hiccupped loudly.

“Aye, that they are,” she said. Her red hair blazed in the flickering fire of the lounge. This inn, apparently, liked the older aesthetic. “They probably want to—”

Thunder roared in the distance, cutting her off, and the door slammed open. Lightning flashed, illuminating—to Chance’s surprise—Tyler. His face looked terrified, eyes wide, mouth open. His poncho was entirely soaked, his brown hair matted down. In his arms, he carried a black bundle.

No, not a black bundle—Umbreon, wounded.

“Help,” Tyler whispered, the words almost lost to the howling wind.

Chance jumped up from his chair, any thought from their last fight fleeing his mind. He walked over to Tyler whose eyes were darting everywhere. His breath came in ragged, sharp gasps. Panicking, Chance realized. Tyler was having a panic attack.

Umbreon moaned as Chance took him without a word from Tyler, offering just a warm smile, as he always did when Tyler was panicking. Tyler didn’t seem to notice, his eyes so hollow that Chance could almost see through them. Umbreon was cold to the touch, as though he had been in a harsh battle with an ice-type pokemon.

Blissey, who had been serving drinks to Tabitha’s clientele, opened her arms and took Umbreon from Chance. Cooing softly, she took him into a side room, out of which a chansey and happiny followed her. All three had been working the inn, since pokecenters were only in the large cities in the Evos region. Pokeinns served as pokecenters and pokemarts out in the wilds of the Evos region, providing a place to rest. The Evos region was known for its large swaths of trees, uncharted mountains, and lack of tourists, being so far away from any other region and difficult to get to.

“Blissey is a good healer,” Tabitha assured Chance. “We’ll take good care of Umbreon.”

Chance smiled appreciatively, but his focus was entirely on Tyler now that Umbreon was taken care of. Tyler sat on a wooden chair, his face in his hands. His clothes dripped onto the floor. Chance guessed that not only had he been in a battle gone bad, but afterward, he had been caught in the torrential rain. The area they were in—east of the haunted mansion gym and near the ocean—was called the Gale of Storms for a good reason.

Tyler looked at the floor with deep, sunken eyes. He shivered violently, the sound of his teeth chattering filling the pokeinn.

“We need to get you out of those clothes,” Chance said.

“I have some spare clothes in the backroom,” Tabitha offered.

“Come on.” Chance gripped Tyler’s arm and pulled him to his feet. Tyler didn’t object, just mumbled what sounded like gratitude but was basically nonsense.

As Tabitha walked to the backroom, Chance called out, “I’m taking him to my room. A warm bath should help.” Tabitha waved as she opened the door to the back, acknowledging his words.

Chance helped Tyler’s sodden form up the stairs to the room he had rented for the night. He helped Tyler sit on the bed.

“I need to go start the bath,” Chance said, getting up from the side of the bed. He’d need to replace the bed because Tyler was making it wet. But it was okay; Tyler needed him right now, and he’d be there for him. He’d always be there for him, no matter what.

Tyler’s hand gripped Chance’s. Chance’s heart leapt into his throat. It had been so long since Tyler’s skin had touched his in such a desperate, and intimate, way.

“Don’t leave me,” Tyler whispered, hoarse. His green eyes widened, pleading.

“Okay,” Chance said, sitting back on the bed.

Hesitantly, Chance placed his hand on Tyler’s back and rubbed softly. After stiffening at Chance’s first touch, Tyler relaxed, melting into Chance’s side. Tyler placed his face on Chance’s chest. He shook from tears, the sobs muffled into Chance’s vest. Chance reached his arm around Tyler’s body, holding him close.

Chance wanted to ask what happened—what made such a strong and capable trainer break down—but he knew this wasn’t the right time. He just held Tyler’s sobbing form, being the shield against the world that he needed at the moment. The bulwark against the storm. It was all he could do. Even if they had broken up, he would still be there for him.

Hours, second, minutes, moments later—Chance didn’t know—Tabitha knocked on the door. She opened the door, clothes in hand. At sight of Chance and Tyler, she yelped and, flustering, said, “Oh dear, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to intrude.”

“It’s fine,” Chance said, stroking Tyler’s back. “Thank you for bringing the clothes. Can you help with one more thing?”

“Of course.”

“Can you start the bath? I think he needs to soak in the warmth for a while, but he needs me by his side right now.”

Tabitha nodded and went into the bathroom. Chance looked down at Tyler, who had stopped crying but now just sat against Chance, an unmoving lump. Chance nudged him, and Tyler responded by looking up. His eyes were hollower than before, which caused dread to creep up in Chance’s stomach.

“We’re drawing you a bath,” Chance said. “I think it’d be good for you to get warm, but you need to get out of these clothes.”

Tyler nodded. Chance moved away from him, even though it was hard because he was sure the only thing keeping Tyler upright was his body. Tyler didn’t slump forward or to the side, though, which Chance hoped was a good sign. He went into the bathroom to check on the water.

“Towels are here, and the new clothes are there,” Tabitha said. “Need anything else?”

“We might want to start some water boiling for tea,” Chance responded. “And we’ll need new bedding. And probably a trundle.”

“Okay.” Tabitha went to the door, and then turned back to Chance. “Is he okay? Are you okay? You don’t have to help him if you can’t. I can do this. I’m the owner of this pokeinn, and it’s my sworn duty to help any passersby.”

“He should be fine, and I’m fine helping him.”

“Are you sure? I know we’ve just met, but you did tell me a lot about—”

“I’m fine,” Chance snapped. A little too fast, a little too sharp.

Tabitha stiffened and then sighed. “I’ll leave the trundle and new bed things by your door. Warm water will be on the stove, and I’ll be downstairs if you need anything.”

Chance slumped down and sat on the side of the tub, watching the warm water fill the white tub. Why _was_ he helping his ex-boyfriend? He didn’t owe him anything. They had broken up on terrible terms, and then broken up even more on even worse terms, yelling in anger and saying things that at least he wished he could take back. But maybe that was it—Chance didn’t feel that anger now. He just felt what he had always felt toward Tyler: a love that wouldn’t go away, a longing to help and be with him, in whatever capacity he could be. He couldn’t just sit downstairs, when he knew that Tyler was up here, hurting. He wanted to be there for Tyler, in whatever way that meant—even if it meant yelling and fighting and making up from the yelling and the fighting.

Warm water licked his fingers, and Chance realized the tub was full enough to cover Tyler in its embrace. He got up from the side and went back to the room. Tyler sat on the bed, still dressed in the soaked clothing, staring into oblivion. Chance knelt in front of him and placed his hands on Tyler’s legs. Tyler stiffened and relaxed again, noticing Chance staring up into his eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“No,” Tyler said, his voice still hoarse.

“Can you get out of your wet clothes?”

Tyler shook his head. “Can you help?”

Chance nodded. He helped Tyler get up and led him to the bathroom. The warm, steamy room made Tyler visibly relax. Chance helped undress him, attempting to leave some modesty between the two, but ultimately failing because of how small the bathroom was. It wasn’t like he _hadn’t_ seen Tyler naked before, but it felt different after breaking up.

“Let me know when you’re done. Clothes there, towels there,” Chance said, pointing, even though Tyler just looked at the water and didn’t recognize the piles Chance gestured to.

Tyler’s hand clamped onto Chance’s arm as he moved to leave the bathroom.

“Please stay,” Tyler pleaded.

“I—”

“Please. I can’t be alone.”

Chance stripped down to his underwear, since the room was rather warm, grabbed a stool, and sat down at the side of the tub. Tyler stepped into the water and sat down, his knees hugging his chest. Chance settled his hand on Tyler’s back and started to draw circles with his fingers.

Tyler’s head dropped lower onto his knees. His own finger started making the same circles in the water. As Chance moved his finger up Tyler’s back, Tyler’s finger would mimic the movement, causing ripples in the clear water.

After a little bit, Chance’s hand and arm wet from tracing cirlces up and down Tyler’s back, Chance started to get up to leave again. Tyler held onto his arm.

“Please,” Tyler said. “Can you . . .” His eyes darted from Chance to the bath. “Can you stay _with_ me?”

Something in Chance’s mind wanted him to leave, wanted to return propriety to their relationship, wanted to not make a stupid mistake tonight. But Chance knew, deeper than that part of his mind, that Tyler needed him to be there in a close way. Needed him to give comfort, no matter the labels or history—or perhaps _because_ of the history. And an even deeper part knew that he wanted to be the one to provide that comfort.

“Okay,” Chance said.

He stood up, slipped off his underwear, and climbed into the tub behind Tyler. Tyler leaned back into Chance’s embrace. Chance held him closely, tightly, partly to provide comfort, the other part to hopefully stop his erection from manifesting.

“Chance?” Tyler said after the two had been lying in the water for some time.

“Yes?” Chance responded. He hadn’t wanted to intrude on Tyler’s personal thoughts; he knew that Tyler, when in a panic attack, didn’t need to talk something out. He just needed someone there. And Chance was that someone right now.

Tyler turned around in the tub, making the water slosh. Chance felt something hard brush his own hardness. _This . . . is . ._ Before he could finish that thought, Tyler’s lips were on his. Water splashed out of the tub as Tyler pushed up against him, ravenous and hungry. Tyler leaned into the kiss, letting his tongue play with Chance’s lips, one of his favorite moves. His lips tingled and his body erupted in fire. He _wanted_ to do this with Tyler, as much, so it seemed, that Tyler wanted to do this with him.

Chance parted for air, but before he could say anything, Tyler’s hand was beneath the water, surrounding Chance’s erection. Chance’s head fell back as he groaned in pleasure. He hadn’t been with anyone _since_ Tyler, and Tyler knew _exactly_ how to excite and pleasure him.

“Tyyyyler,” Chance moaned out as the water frothed around them. “Stop for a moment.”

“What’s wrong?” Tyler asked.

“I just—is this something you want to do?”

“Yes.”

The answer was so fast that it surprised Chance.

“Are you sure?”

Tyler sat back in the tub, so he was facing Chance but their legs were still intertwined.

“Yes,” Tyler said. “I need this right now.”

“And I want it,” Chance whispered.

Tyler stood in the water. His erection throbbed, as though it needed attention too. _He needs this, and I want this. I’m not sure I want to get back together with him, but we know each other so well._

Chance decided.

He stood and moved closer to Tyler, their feet and legs still covered with water. He pulled Tyler close to him so their dicks rubbed against each other. With his hand behind Tyler’s head, he pulled him into a kiss. His tongue penetrated Tyler’s mouth, doing what his dick wanted to do Tyler’s ass at that moment. Tyler’s hand gripped Chance’s butt, pulling him and his dick closer and closer to Tyler’s own.

The water splashed as they rubbed against each other, forgetting about the world around them, and losing themselves in each other’s passion. They stepped out of the tub and Chance pushed Tyler back against the wall. He kissed Tyler’s cheek, his chin, his neck, his chest, making his way down to the final purchase. He enveloped Tyler’s cock in his mouth. Tyler’s moan echoed around the bathroom. His fingers ran through Chance’s hair, gripping tightly and pulling his cock deeper into Chance’s mouth. Chance felt the tip hit the back of his throat, and he moaned, the sound escaping around Tyler’s dick.

Chance worked his way back up Tyler’s body, making sure to kiss Tyler’s sensitive part right above his belly button. He giggled in response. Chance looked up and could see a smile gracing his lips. He stood up and captured them with his own.

“Come on,” he said, grabbing Tyler by his dick and pulling him to the bed. “We have some forgetting to do.”

“Forgetting . . .” Tyler said as he lay down on the bed.

Chance climbed on top of him.

Time for some forgetting through passion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this fanfiction! I hope you're liking it. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram to know when more chapters and more stories are published: @knightley_jack 
> 
> Next Sunday, we return to the past, eight months ago, when Chance and Tyler are in search of a beautiful area full of grass- and bug-type pokemon, the Verdant Hills. When they arrive at the Hills, they discover more beauty than just pokemon beauty though. Remember to give some kudos, if you liked it, and follow along with the story. Thanks!


	8. The Verdant Hills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chance and Tyler, trying to discover more places on their journey, try to find the Verdant Hills, a place with tons of pokemon and unimaginable beauty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains explicit sexual material.

**Eight Months Ago**

Dark clouds gathered in the sky, boiling over the canyon walls and plunging the ground around Chance and Tyler into darkness. Thunder boomed in the distance, a herald to the oncoming storm, while wind beckoned the cold into Chance’s bones.

“It’s just a little farther up the canyon,” Tyler said, pointing in front of him.

All that Chance could see in front of Tyler was more canyon, the clouds blocking out the sun. Not that he had been able to see the end of the canyon before the storm picked up. It seemed it was longer than Tyler’s brother had remembered.

“How _much_ farther?”

“Not too much,” Tyler responded, fretting as he bit his bottom lip. “My brother said it was only an hour down the canyon.”

“It’s already been—” Thunder boomed again, cutting Chance off. Lightning lit the sky, flashing in Espeon’s purple-pink eyes as he scanned the surrounding, always on alert. “It’s already been two hours, Tyler. Maybe we took a wrong turn.”

“But there were no turns. We’ve been moving forward the entire time.”

“Maybe we were supposed to take a turn.”

“No, my brother said an hour forwa . . . oh.”

“Oh, what?” Chance asked, exasperated. Tyler was cute and a great travelling companion, but sometimes he was a little forgetful.

“He was riding Rapidash when he went through here.”

Chance almost fell on the ground with _that_ reveal of knowledge. They had made this long detour after Tyler had called home at the last pokeinn and his brother Raulf told him about a beautiful, hilly area filled with grass- and bug-type pokemon. Chance had finally relented (grass- and bug-type pokemon were _not_ his favorite), and they had headed down Barrow Canyon, pointedly ignoring the signs warning of flash floods and quick storms due to the proximity to Iridescent Lake. It was becoming clearer and clearer that Chance would never pointedly ignore signs again.

“Should we turn back?” Chance asked, looking back into darkness and then forward into darkness.

“We’ve got to be close,” Tyler insisted. “Rapidash can’t be _that_ fast.”

“Well . . .”

“And don’t say that Rapidash is in the top three for fastest pokemon, or I’ll punch you.”

“What if I want you to punch me?”

“Well, then that might be coming for you,” Tyler said, playfully punching Chance’s arm.

Chance stuck out his tongue. Tyler smirked and then ran at Chance. Chance took off down the canyon, jumping over rocks and clumps of dirt. Espeon followed, tailed closely by Umbreon who kept jumping and swatting at Espeon’s split tail. The two laughed as they chased each other, moving down the canyon than faster before. Different canyons veered off the path, but Chance stayed on the path forward. If it was forward on a rapidash for an hour, then by three hour they should—

The canyon opened onto a lighted, hilly array. Surprised at why it was bright here, yet dark in the canyon, Chance looked up and saw the storm clouds billowing _around_ the hilly area, forming a circle that made it the eye of the storm. Canyon walls surrounded the grassy hills that stretched out—but not too far, since Chance could see canyon on the other side of the small hills. Chance climbed up the small hill that was in front of him. On the other side, the hill sloped down to a large bowl-like recession that was full of tall grasses that moved where pokemon might be hiding. Trees were scattered all around, copses here and there where some pokemon probably set up nests.

“It’s beautiful,” Tyler said, arriving next to Chance.

“Like you,” Chance whispered.

“What was that?”

Chance’s cheeks flushed. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Tyler and he had become closer and closer over the months, filling their time with long talks and long walks. A pokemon journey, Chance was discovering, was mostly just walking and getting to know the world around you. He felt so lucky to have someone so amazing to spend it with.

“Race you down,” Tyler said.

“Better idea,” Chance said.

“Oh?”

“Tackle you down.”

Chance threw himself at Tyler, grabbing him around the middle and causing him to lose his footing. The two tumbled down the hill, the long grass buffeting the impact on the ground. When they reached the bottom, Tyler landed on Chance’s outstretched arm, and the two laughed. Chance, in an effort to get Tyler off his arm, reached out and tickled Tyler’s stomach.

“Hey, I’m—” He giggled. “Tick—” Giggled some more. “Ticklish.”

“You shouldn’t have told me that,” Chance said, tickling harder.

“Hey—hey—hey, look,” Tyler said, tears glinting at the edge of his eyes. He pointed up to the hill.

Chance looked up and saw Espeon and Umbreon at the top of the hill. Umbreon jumped on Espeon ,causing the two to barrel down together like their trainers had done moments before. The two landed near Chance and Tyler. Umbreon jumped up first and nuzzled Espeon with his head. Espeon started laughing, Umbreon’s fur tickling him.

“This is so amazing,” Tyler said, looking around.

Chance spared a glance away from Espeon and Umbreon for a moment. The valley, deep and wide as it was, was filled with disparate types of pokemon. Chance thought had had seen a lot of pokemon in the cities, walking around and moving about, but there were _so_ many in this large—yet relatively small—valley filled with small hills. Stretching out before them, pokemon ran and played and ate, running up the valley sides, crossing small creeks, climbing up the little hills that pockmarked the landscape.

A group of bulbasaur and ivysaur were jumping down the side of the hill. Beedrill buzzed around a tree that was full of kukuna and weedle. Near that tree, a rival group of butterfree, metapod, and caterpie fluttered around another tree.

A river cut its way through the middle of the landscape. Around the river, a ludicolo joyfully walked, two little lotad following in its wake. Masquerin floated lazily above the river, while a mudkip jumped in, flowed down the river like it was a slide, and then walked back up to repeat the process.

“It’s so beautiful,” Chance said.

“That’s you,” Tyler whispered.

Chance turned to Tyler and smiled. His smile curved into mischievousness. He leaned over and started tickling Tyler on the stomach. Tyler laughingly cried out as he fell back onto the grass. Chance joined him, still tickling him. Tyler playfully grabbed at Chance’s hands. Tyler’s shirt rode up, revealing his stomach.

“Think I should?” Chance asked, pulling back his tickling fingers to give Tyler a moment to recover.

Tyler’s eyes glinted.

“If you don’t respond, I’m going to take that smile as a yes,” Chance said, raising his eyebrows as he gazed into Tyler’s beautiful eyes.

Chance tickled Tyler’s bare midriff. A line of hair lead down the middle of it, but Chance stayed away from that part, focusing instead on his sides. Tyler’s hands reached out and grabbed onto Chance’s forearms. They looked deeply into each other’s eyes, and then Tyler moved his hand up, cupped it behind Chance’s neck, and pulled Chance into a kiss.

It was long. Their lips smashed together in a long-awaited symphony, the pent up passion of traveling together for so long finally being released. Chance pulled back to inhale.

“Are we—?” Chance asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“I want to,” Tyler responded.

“I do too.”

“Then let’s.”

Tyler pulled Chance down into another kiss. This time, their lips parted and their tongues made sport with each other. Tyler’s hands moved down Chance’s back and pulled out his shirt from being tucked in. Chance felt the cool air whisper across his lower back as warm hands gripped it. Chance’s hands pushed up Tyler’s shirt, revealing more of his skin, wriggling under his own cool hands.

Chance started grinding against Tyler’s body, his thickness needing something to put pressure against. Tyler leaned back as their pants started to grind against each other. Chance gasped as he felt Tyler’s own thickness through his pants. Chance pulled off Tyler’s shirt, and Tyler did the same for Chance.

Rolling onto their sides, the two continued to strain against each other. Tyler’s kisses trailed down Chance’s neck and chest, leaving his face right in front of Chance’s groin. Slim fingers brushed against his stomach as they unclasped Chance’s pants and pulled them—underwear and all—down. Not skipping a beat, Tyler opened his mouth and enveloped Chance’s dick.

Chance’s moan echoed around the hillside. A distant thought in his mind made him remember they were in a public place, but another thought said that no one would be here, the storm surrounding the Verdant Hills would keep people away. Forgetting any thoughts, Chance threw his head back into the grass as he let out an even wider moan. Tyler picked up tempo, encouraged by Chance’s noises.

“S-s-slower,” Chance said, close to climax.

Tyler’s tempo slowed. He pulled up his mouth and started moving his tongue around Chance’s dick. Chance could barely do anything. He was at the mercy of Tyler and his tantalizing tongue. Coming up for air gave him a moment though to go on the offensive. Tyler leaned back, and Chance pulled himself up from the hillside, his mouth covering Tyler’s, stealing his breath.

It was _his_ time to prove how well his mouth worked. Chance made his own way down Tyler’s chest, spending ample time at his nipples, nipping and kissing them until they peaked. Tyler groaned, falling back onto the hill. Chance pulled off Tyler’s pants and underwear and then enveloped his dick with his mouth. Tyler cried out as Chance pushed the entire thing down his throat, gagging a little as it reached the back. He pulled back and pushed forward, keeping up a quick tempo as Tyler started wrestling on the ground, the passion becoming intense.

“I—I—” Tyler called out, so Chance slowed down, not wanting to climax him yet. He pulled back, gently kissing the head before he crawled up next to Tyler.

“Hi,” he said, looking into Tyler’s face.

“Hi, yourself, Mr. Amazing Mouth.”

“Well, you’re Mr. Magnificent Mouth, then.”

“We’re the Mouths,” Tyler said, his face cracking into a huge smile.

“I guess we are.”

“You know, Mr. Amazing Mouth.”

“Yes, Mr. Magnificent Mouth?”

“We could do more than just our mouths.”

Chance’s ass ached to have Tyler in him, driving him down. Could this be the right place for _that_? Tyler seemed into it all; and he had been grabbing at Chance’s butt as they had been ripping off their clothes.

“Yes, yes there—”

Espeon and Umbreon, who had been scouting around while Tyler and Chance had been enjoying each other’s company, popped up their heads at the top of the hill, yowling.

“Oh, shit,” Tyler said.

“Oh shit is right.”

The yowl meant that there were other people around—and Tyler and Chance were stark naked on the side of a hill. The two quickly gathered their things and ran for the nearest copse of trees, not even thinking that there might be bug pokemon inside them. Espeon and Umbreon skirted around the hill, acting as though they were wild pokemon, until they found their way into the same thicket.

Peeking from behind the trees, Chance saw a trainer walk out onto the top of the hill. Floating behind him was a dragonair, twisting in the air, and on his shoulder was a small rookidee, its red eyes beedily looking around. The trainer had long black hair and a blue cape. His vest hung loosely open, with gym badges glinting from the inside. He looked around the hillside as though he owned the place.

Tyler gasped, still holding his clothes around him.

“Do you know him?” Chance asked.

“Yeah, kinda.”

“What do you mean ‘kinda’?”

“I used to date him.”

 _To date him_. Chance looked back at the trainer, as if sizing him up in comparison to himself. He _was_ tall and wiry and intense. Everything Chance was not.

“That’s Sylvester,” Tyler said. “We grew up together and started out on our journeys together. But, it didn’t last long,” he added, reminding Chance of the mysterious Sylvester, who Tyler had mentioned vaguely over the months.

Chance turned toward Tyler and smiled, his envy ebbing from him as he saw Tyler’s imploring face.

“It’s okay, no worries at all,” Chance responded.

Standing there, naked, in a thicket of trees, with Tyler’s ex up on the hill, was not _exactly_ how Chance had hoped their first time making some form of love would be. But, here he was, and he was happy, standing under a thicket of trees, naked, with the man he’d been traveling with for a while and was growing to like more and more every day.

“Tell you what, let’s go deeper into these trees,” Chance said, smiling. “And then, maybe _I_ can go _deeper_ into _you_.”

“I’d like that,” Tyler said, smiling. “And I’d like to do it to you too.”

Holding their clothes, the two lovers retreated farther into the trees, away from the world, but closer to each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Apologies that this chapter came out late in the day, but it is here! I hope you enjoyed reading Tyler and Chance’s first sexual experience together. Next week, February 7, we return to the present, “A Day and a Night,” when Chance heads off to hunt down Team Eclipse. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @knightley_jack to connect and chat!


	9. A Day and a Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chance's anger over what Team Eclipse did to Tyler sends him out in search of them. On his way, he runs into an unexpected new ally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking some extra time for this chapter! I got a little behind on all my work over the last few weeks, but I've caught up and regular chapters on Sunday should be starting again.

**Present**

“He said they almost killed Umbreon and would’ve killed him too,” Chance said, finally letting his anger out, strutting back and forth in the common room of Tabitha’s pokeinn. Tabitha sat on a barstool, watching Chance’s hands tighten and untighten. “Killed, Tabitha!”

Chance had no idea why he was revealing all of this to the pokeinnkeeper he had just met, but there was no one else around to talk to. After Tyler had relaxed, he had opened up about his experience attempting to chase down Team Eclipse. It had not gone well. They had attacked him while he set up camp one night, surprising him. He didn’t even have enough time to call out another pokemon. Umbreon defended him as best he could, but he was no match for the onslaught they sent against him. Tyler had even almost been hit by a pokemon attack—something that rarely happened with trained pokemon. But it didn’t seem that Team Eclipse worried about propriety.

“So what are you going to do now?” Tabitha asked, shaking her head in dismay.

“I want to find them and make them pay.”

“My gran used to say revenge was not the best way to make friends.”

“I don’t care about making friends. They hurt one of my . . . friends,” Chance said, stuttering a little over the word.

What were they, he and Tyler? They had had sex last night, Tyler wanting it as much as Chance wanted it. He had needed to relax, forget, and Chance knew all the ways to make Tyler forget. But did that mean they were getting back together?

No. It didn’t. And Chance knew that. He knew that going after Team Eclipse wouldn’t get them back together either. But he still wanted it to. He couldn’t give up loving Tyler, even though they’d broken up. It wasn’t as simple as break up, no more love. He still ached to hold Tyler every night, to feel him inside him, to be inside him, to be around each other, to love. He was going to go after Team Eclipse because he loved Tyler, but he was also going to do it for the other pokemon trainers and pokemon.

“They need to be stopped,” Chance found himself saying.

The lights flickered on and off. There had been a storm the previous night, causing most of the electricity to go out. The inn itself ran on generators right now, the storm calming down.

“When the net comes back up, I’ll send a line to the authorities,” Tabitha said. “And if you go, you’ll need some potions.”

Chance winced. “I don’t like using potions.”

Tabitha took it in stride. “I have some berry supplements, then, and some berry sprays, all naturally made.”

“Thank you,” Chance said. “And you’ll be able to look after Tyler?”

“I’ll let him know where you’ve gone when he wakes up. He needs a long rest. And so does Umbreon.”

Espeon, out of his pokeball, came up to Chance and rubbed his head against his leg, purring loudly. Chance drank the last of his coffee, grabbed his bag, and walked to the door, Espeon following.

“Good luck,” Tabitha called out as he entered the fresh morning, the light bright and welcoming.

***

“Well, this has certainly been almost the waste of a day,” Chance said to Espeon as the two walked toward the Edge Sea, the body of water that bordered the western side of Evos. “Where do you think they could be? We have nothing to go on, our pokedex isn’t working, the net is _still_ down. Part of me is beginning to wonder if Team Eclipse has anything to do with _that_ too.”

Espeon _mrrowed_ in response. He kept his ears alert, ready for anything around him. He didn’t want to be taken by surprise like Tyler and Umbreon had been. The hill they were walking up finally gave way to a stunning vista. Before him, the grassy land dropped off suddenly to long cliffs. At the base of the cliffs, the Edge Sea crashed against white rock walls, stunning and glistening in the dying sunlight. The sea raged, blue and green waves crashing against each other, the surface never calm. Out in the distance, Chance could see a series of islands.

“Maybe they went to one of those islands, for all I—” Chance stopped talking to Espeon. He had heard someone over—there. He saw a woman walking along the cliffside, looking through binoculars at the islands. She was saying something.

Chance motioned to Espeon to sneak over. Espeon crouched, hiding his pink fur in the long, green grass. Chance lay down in the long grass, hiding his body from the view of the stranger. As soon as Espeon was in range, he used psychic to connect with Chance. Flicking his ears toward the woman, Espeon became a sort of radio, relaying what the person was saying to Chance’s mind.

“Vaporeon, we need to get to Iltahamara Isle, before tomorrow, that’s when they’re going to do it.”

 _They_ could be anyone, Chance thought, just as _it_ could be anything.

“If the net hadn’t gone down, I would be calling in back up. Team Eclipse is too much for me to handle.”

A Vaporeon. That voice. Chance considered—could it be?

He stood up from hiding in the bushes. He knew who it had to be. A water pokemon and that confident voice.

“Hello, Lily!” Chance called to the Vintil City gym leader.

Lily jumped at his voice but calmed her surprise quickly. Vaporeon jumped into a defensive stance in front of Lily, growling, her fins puffed out. Lily turned to face him. Recognition dawned on her face.

“Chance, right?”

“You remember!” Chance said with a smile.

“What are you doing out here?”

“Actually, trying to find the same people you are, I think—Team Eclipse.”

Lily nodded. “Why are you after them?” she asked, eyeing Chance suspiciously.

“They, well, they hurt a friend of mine, and stole the Ghost Gem when I was at the Haunted Mansion.”

“The Ghost Gem? Oh...oh dear.”

“Oh dear?” Chance asked. The worry crossing Lily’s face had him growing worried.

“That means they have...” Lily counted her on her fingers. “The Aqua Gem, the Bright Gem, and the Ghost Gem.”

“The Aqua Gem? They got your Gem too?” Chance asked.

“That’s why I’m out here,” Lily said. “I had to close it down, and I came out looking for Team Eclipse. The authorities—well, they’re not fully convinced Team Eclipse is a real threat, even though they’ve been stealing Gems. It seems President Mortimer doesn’t want to waste her political career on chasing down a secret team of terrorists.”

President Mortimer was the elected leader of the Evos Region, keeping peace and making sure the Region was safe for trainers and civilians alike. Chance wasn’t a huge fan of her, but he also didn’t pay too much attention to politics.

“So, if they have three Gems...” Chance trailed off in thought.

Lily looked at Vaporeon, who cocked her head. Lily nodded, as if figuring something out. “I know what they want to do.”

“Which is...?” Chance asked.

“Summon a cresselia.”

“Isn’t cresselia the counterpart to—”

“Darkrai, yes, which would not be good,” Lily said, grabbing her pack. “If they get both Cresselia and Darkrai, they would be able to hold sway over the dreams of people and cause unknowable havoc. I need to stop them.”

“I’m coming with you,” Chance said, not even taking a moment to think about it.

Lily looked him up and down. He had beaten her in his own gym battle, but it hadn’t been as soundly as Tyler’s pokemon battle. He had narrowly beaten her with luck more than skill. He had improved since that battle, and Lily seemed to believe so too, since she nodded.

“Okay,” she said, walking along the cliffside. “It will take us all night to get to that island, there—” She pointed to the middle of three islands in the Edge Sea. “—and it’s going to be bumpy waters across the Sea.”

“That’s okay.”

“Do you have any pokemon to ride across?” Lily asked as she found a slope that lead toward a cove at the bottom of the cliffs.

“No, I have an azumarrill though.”

“Good, call it out,” Lily said. “We don’t know if they have any pokemon waiting for us in the deeps. I tracked them to here, but knowing they’re going to be summoning cresselia, they _have_ to be at Iltahamara Isle.”

They made it to the bottom of the cliff, a rocky beach touched the Edge Sea.

“Come on out, Lapras,” Lily said, throwing her pokeball to bring out her pokemon.

The lapras Lily called out was large, of the carrying variety meant to be used for transportation. The lapras’s back shell was large and had indentations for people to sit and spikes for people to hold on to. Chance called out Azumarril, who trilled at seeing the light of the dying day. He retruend Espeon to his pokeball.

Lily jumped onto Lapras’s back and held out her hand to Chance. Chance jumped off up and onto Lapras’s back, Lily’s hand helping him up. Vaporeon entered the raging sea, pumping her tail and legs.

“Next stop, Iltahamara Isle.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned next week for Chapter 10: Fighting. Follow along @knightley_jack on Instagram and Twitter to learn more about what I'm writing and what I'm doing. Love y'all!


	10. Fighting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chance and Tyler battle against two trainers who use fighting types—and the fighting spreads beyond the fight.

**Seven Months Ago**

Tyler’s hand fit nicely into Chance’s. Chance smiled as they walked along the path toward their next gym battle. He had everything he wanted. A boyfriend who was also his traveling companion, pokemon who loved him and whom he loved, gym badges, _and_ he was a pokemon trainer on his pokemon adventure. How could things possibly get better? They couldn’t.

Tyler leaned over and kissed Chance on the cheek. Chance smiled.

“So, who do you think would win in a battle?” Tyler asked. “Miltank or beedrill?”

“Well, miltank is pretty tough,” Chance said. “And its headbutt is pretty mean.”

“But, beedrill’s poison shot and fury cutter, let alone slash and sludge bomb, could _smash_ the competition,” Tyler interjected.

“Yes, but miltank is tough.”

“That’s true,” Tyler said, nodding his head. “But beedrill is fast!”

“There’s no type advantage,” Chance said. “A bug pokemon against a normal pokemon would be a pretty tough battle.”

“But it would be _fun_ to watch!”

“It might just go on forever,” Chance joked. “Since neither pokemon would have the exact advantage over the other.”

“That’s what would make it so much fun.”

“Okay, what if we added a second pokemon. No type advantage. Go.”

Tyler unthreaded his hand from Chance’s so he could think. He rubbed his jaw as the two walked down the path. “Miltank and raichu,” he said.

“Oh! Against beedrill and goodra.”

“That would be _sick_ ,” Tyler said loudly, jumping up in the air with his fist.

“What would be sick?” a voice called out.

The traveling companions had been too caught up in their own conversation to realize that two other trainers were also on the road. They both wore matching vests and hats, with tight shirts underneath the vests outlining their strong stomachs. The shirts were cut off at the shoulder, so their muscled arms were being shown off.

“I’m Mitch,” the male trainer said. He tight shirt outlined a six-pack that Chance blushed when he saw.

“I’m Breonna,” the female trainer said. Her blonde hair was tied in a ponytail and came down halfway to her middle back.

“I’m Tyler,” Tyler said, “and this is Chance.”

Chance nodded at them.

“What were you talking about?”

“Possible non-type advantage pokemon battles,” Chance responded. “We were postulating what would happen if miltank and raichu fought beedrill and goodra.”

“It’d be sick,” Tyler added.

Mitch nodded in agreement. “Sure, sure it would.”

“We don’t have a miltank and raichu,” Breonna said, “or beedrill and goodra, but we’re always up for a double battle, if you want.”

Chance looked hesitantly at Tyler. Ever since their close call at the Valen Gym, Chance and Tyler had been careful of double battling. They didn’t want to get into another fight over battle tactics. But, they had been practicing, though, and perhaps now would be a good as time as any to try again. Chance nodded to Tyler. Tyler smiled, ready for the challenge.

“Let’s do it then.”

“We each call out a pokemon and battle until their weakened,” Mitch said. “Sound good?”

“Sounds good.”

The foursome walked off the road to a large patch of open field where their pokemon could move around. Some of the ground was scorched and torn out, so it seemed like other pokemon trainers had battled here. Perfect, then, really.

“I’ll start,” Micah said. He pulled out his pokemon—a blue great ball—and said, “Let’s get ‘em, Machop!”

A ribbon of light shot from the great ball and materialized into a blue machop. He sliced a hand through the air when he appeared on the field with a soft, “Ma-chop!” punctuating the move.

“I’ll go first,” Tyler said to Chance. He pulled out his own pokeball. “Go, Aron!”

“Aron?” Chance hissed at Tyler. “Aron? You _know_ steel pokemon are weak against fighting!”

“I know,” Tyler said. “I just wanted to have some fun.”

“But don’t you want to win?”

“Of course I do,” Tyler said, calm even though Chance couldn’t fathom why. “But Aron needs some experience, and we need to learn how to deal with pokemon that we don’t have a good type advantage against.”

“Go, Tyrogue!” Breonna called out, pulling out her own pokeball. The small tyrogue appeared on the field of battle and kicked out, making threatening gestures at Aron. Aron cocked its small head as if confused by this.

“Hmm,” Chance said. “Fighting. Weak against...”

Chance thought for a moment. Fighting were weak against psychic. So he could bring out Espeon. But Espeon had so much training already, and since Micah and Breonna weren’t using any eevees of their own, it felt like a cheat to bring out his rather strong pokemon who he had been training for years. So, he would bring out—

“Go, Shinx!”

“Shinx?” Tyler asked, surprised. “I thought you were going to bring out Espeon!”

“I was,” Chance said, shrugging. “But, you got me thinking about how I need to strengthen Shinx, just like you need to train Aron more.”

“Yes, but—but—agh,” Tyler said, frustrated. “Fine, we’ll deal with it.”

“Machop, tackle!” Mitch yelled.

Machop jumped toward Aron. Aron cowered, small and afraid.

“Shinx, reflect!”

Shinx jumped in front of Aron. A shiny, translucent wall appeared before Aron and Shinx. Machop hit into it.

“Low kick,” Breonna called out.

Tyrogue followed Machop, sliding beneath the reflect and hitting into Shinx. The reflect broke, shattering into a million pieces, as Machop tackled into Aron. Aron called out in pain.

“Headbutt,” Tyler called.

Aron’s hard head hit against Machop, sending him flying backwards. He struck a tree and fell to the ground. Shakily, he rose to one knee, wincing in pain. Tyrogue came back around to attack Shinx, but Shinx dodged, jumping up as Tyrogue skidded along the ground for another low kick.

“Lightning bolt,” Chance said.

Lightning formed in Shinx’s light blue fur and then blasted toward Tyrogue. Tyrogue’s eyes widened as Breonna yelled, “Dodge!” But it was too late. The electric attack struck Tyrogue.

“Right on!” Chance said, high-fiving Tyler.

“Attack!” Mitch called.

Chance gasped as Machop came out of nowhere and hit into Shinx. He hadn’t been watching the entire field, as he should have.

“Rock smash, Aron,” Tyler called out.

It was good that he was watch—the rock smash never came. Tyrogue jumped out of the side and slammed his fist into Aron, sending him flying.

“Double kick,” Breonna said.

Tyrogue jumped after Aron and kicked him twice—once, sending him flying toward the ground, a second time to smash him into the ground.

“No!” Tyler said. “You should have been watching,” he said, turning on Chance.

“I’m trying to!” Chance retorted back.

The two glared at each other, both frustrated with the other.

“Seismic toss, Machop,” Mitch said.

It seemed that a battle didn’t stop for a small lover’s quarrel.

Machop grabbed Shinx and tossed him into the air. He jumped after him, grabbed him again, and turned in a ball-shaped formation. Then he flung Shinx at the ground. Shinx landed, causing a deep indentation in the ground as though a meteor had struck.

Shinx tried to get up from the ground, but he couldn’t. He fell back down, exhausted. In the other corner of the field, Aron did the same, passing out as he fell to his side.

“No!” Tyler yelled, running for Aron.

“Looks like we win,” Mitch said with a smirk.

“Good fight,” Breonna said, returning Tyrogue to his pokeball.

“Better luck next time,” Mitch said, returning Machop.

The two trainers laughed as they headed on their way, not even waiting to shake Tyler or Chance’s hands or let them offer congratulations. In other pokemon regions, money was usually bet on pokemon battles, but that was illegal in Evos. A pokemon battle was just a chance to train your pokemon, not to earn money.

Kneeling down, Chance felt around Shinx’s body. Nothing seemed to be broken, even though that seismic toss had been pretty rough. He pressed down in multiple areas, but Shinx didn’t cry out in pain.

“You did really well,” he said. Shinx growled, angry at himself. “Don’t be too angry. We win some, we lose some. It’s all part of the journey.”

He fished some healing berries out of his pack and fed them to Shinx. He next put a salve on some of his cuts and bruises—at least the ones he could see. They’d definitely need to find a pokeinn to heal all of their pokemon soon. He returned Shinx to his pokeball after Shinx had eaten all the berries.

“Rest well, friend,” Chance said, minimizing the pokeball and attaching it to his waist.

He turned to Tyler, but Tyler had already started to stalk away from him. Chance sighed. _Not this again_. He jogged to catch up.

“ _Why_?” Tyler asked.

“Why what?” Chance responded.

“Why did you bring out Shinx?”

“Why did _you_ bring out Aron?”

“I wanted to train.”

“I did too.”

“I also wanted to _win_.”

Chance paused. He knew Tyler was competitive, but this seemed a little much for a small pokemon battle in the middle of nowhere. The battle had just been a friendly, one-time competition, nothing more, nothing less. It wasn’t a league battle nor a gym battle. So why was Tyler acting so angry? Why were they fighting?

“Look,” Chance said, striving for peace. “We aren’t the best at double battles. I don’t pay attention to the entire field, and we both make bad choices.”

The truth seemed to be calming Tyler down because he shrugged and said, “Yeah, you’re right.”

“But that doesn’t mean we can’t get better,” Chance offered. “I want to keep working on it and getting better.”

He ran his hand up and down Tyler’s arm.

“I do too,” Tyler said.

“Let’s do this then,” Chance said. “Let’s find a pokeinn, let’s heal up, let’s practice.”

“Practice, right,” Tyler said.

“I’m sorry we lost.”

“I’m sorry I get angry.”

The two hugged and then kissed briefly. Lips parting, they headed off toward a pokeinn and further training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading along with Chance and Tyler's adventure! Next week will be Chapter 11, "Midnight," in which Lily and Chance cross the Edge Sea to Iltahamara Isle, and Chance tries to think through his feelings about Chance.


	11. Midnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chance travels across the Edge Sea and runs across a mysterious pink pokemon.

The Edge Sea was not known for its calm waters. Waves crashed against Lapras’s side as she swam toward Iltahamara Isle. Vaporeon circled Lapras, partly, Lily explained, to calm some of the waters to make the trip a little easier on Lapras, and partly to protect them from any nefarious water-type pokemon in the deep. The Edge Sea wasn’t just the edge of the Evos region; it could also be considered the edge of adventure, where trainers discovered their biggest challenges, many winning triumphantly as they reached the islands dotting the sea, while some sunk to the bottom, never to finish.

It was rather lucky that Chance had come upon Lily. If she hadn’t been there, he probably would still be on the beach. No boats traveled the Edge Sea this late in the storm season—they didn’t trust the weather, and they feared the tale of the pink dragonair who swam the depths, cursed from the sky to forever swim the sea after losing their trainer. Folktales, Lily assured Chance, folktales and old wives’ tales.

The storm spiraling around the two travelers, pelting them with cold rain, echoed the one raging inside Chance. Why was he so determined to hunt down Team Eclipse? Because he was a good person? Because he hated what they’d done to Tyler? Because he didn’t like how he had felt seeing Tyler—strong, capable Tyler—diminished and afraid, Umbreon slowly dying in his arms?

His mind turned to his past. When he was growing up in Everett City, the capital of the Evos region, there had been a lot of bullies in his school. In his fifth year, he had developed a crush on Frankie. Frankie had an obsession with pikachu that culminated in him wearing clothes with bright, bright yellow, but he also had been kind and always offered Chance gum at break times. Electric zap gum, to be sure, but still gum even if sour. When Chance asked Frankie out to see the latest Johto Jones adventure ( _Johto Jones and the Curse of the Gengar_ , in which Johto falls in love with her new female companion while trying to save the Ampharos’s Ankh from Team Dark), Frankie gladly accepted. They held hands during the movie and then walked around the mall talking about the movie.

Before Chance’s mom picked them up, they ran into George Ahlbit, who gawked and laughed at them. Tears formed in Frankie’s eyes and he ran off, but Chance, infuriated, punched George in the nose. George ran off with blood welling up on his upper lip, and Chance had gone off to find Frankie. He found him in the restroom. After knocking on the door, he had entered the bathroom and seen Frankie, a distraught mess, tears and snot making him look even more helpless than Chance thought he was. It made Chance want to beat up George even more.

Instead of being proud that he had defended him, as Chance thought he would be, Frankie was mortified. “What will they do to me at school on Monday?” he had asked. “I don’t know. I don’t care. I’ll defend you,” Chance had replied. “What if I don’t want to have to be defended? What if I just want to fit in?” Chance still, to that night, on the back of that lapras, could not understand Frankie’s response.

At the end of that weekend, Frankie stopped talking to Chance, even though George never seemed to both either of them again. And Chance, it seemed, just kept on protecting those he fell for.

“Look,” Lily said, breaking Chance out of his memory. “The storm’s breaking.”

“How can you tell?” Chance asked, genuinely curious.

Lily pointed toward the clouds to the north. Chance squinted and could barely make out the difference between dark cloud and dark sky.

“It’s difficult to tell, especially for someone who hasn’t stayed outside for a lot of storms,” Lily said. “At least I assume you haven’t. I’ve learned that most people don’t just stand in the rain, but it’s cool. Other people are different. anyway, it’s also almost midnight on a night with barely any moon, so unless you had eyes like a noctowl, you wouldn’t be able to see a lot that far away.”

“No, no, I see it,” Chance said.

“I guess you do have noctowl eyes.”

Squinting even harder, Chance could almost see something moving out there. He pulled out his pokegear, hoping the zoom feature on the camera might work well. The rain made it difficult to operate, causing different apps to pop open instead of the camera like he wanted.

“What are you doing?” Lily asked, a smile of amusement forming beneath her matted-down hair.

“I think I see something flying out there.”

“Maybe the pink dragonair’s curse has lifted.”

“I don’t think so,” Chance said, squinting even harder to see what it was. He must have looked like his grandma.

“Well here, try these,” Lily said, rummaging in her pack and pulling out a hand telescope.

Chance took the telescope and brought it to his eye. He saw clouds, clouds, and more clouds as he searched the sky for—flapping their wings against the storm, three flying-type pokemon pulled a basket that had its own wings jutting out from its sides. The wings for the basket must have been what helped keep it aloft. Focusing on the three flying pokemon, Chance saw the brown feathers of a fearow and a pidgeot. between them, the black feathers of a corvaknight.

“No . . .” Chance whispered. “No, it can’t be . . .”

“No, what?”

Chance moved the spyglass back to the floating basked and saw them. His heart betrayed him as it fluttered when he spotted Tyler, standing strong but holding tight to the edge of the basket. Standing next to him, an arm around Tyler—probably to keep him “steady”—was Sylvester, Tyler’s ex-boyfriend before Chance.

“I can’t believe he went back to him,” Chance fumed, lowering the hand telescope.

“Who went back to whom?” Lily asked, holding out her hand for the spyglass.

“Tyler to Sylvester,” Chance said. As Lily fastened the telescope to her pack, Chance explained, in breif, how Tyler was his ex and Sylvester was his ex. “. . . so, it’s just infuriating that he would go back to Sylvester so quickly, even as I’m trying to stop Team Eclipse. I know it’s not logical, and it’s not like I expect him to come running back into my arms, but . . .”

“It feels like a betrayal,” Lily said, putting words to Chance’s emotions.

“Exactly, a betrayal.”

The storm around them began to dissipate. Light shone down on the rough surface of the water, the almost-full moon bright in the sky. The water around them churned, as though the storm were still there, without the rain and wind.

“I try, and I try, and I fail, and I fail,” Chance said, staring at the churning water. The churning didn’t seem natural.

“Failure and trying and failing and trying again are part—”

Lily was unable to finish her sentence as water blasted her off Lapras. Chance turned to Espeon, who growled. Beneath the water, something pink swam. It wiggled in the water. A head poked up—pink nose and black wings near its ears, wilted—and water shot from its mouth at Chance.

Espeon leapt forward, a reflective shield solidifying between them and the hydro pump. The water shot off the reflect. The water-bound pink dragonair growled and dove into the water again.

“This isn’t good for you,” Chance said to Espeon. “Go, Azumarill. Retrun, Espeon.”

As Espeon returned into his pokeball, Chance heard a splash behind him. He quickly put Espeon’s pokeball into its spot on his belt and turned to face what was next. Water slammed into his chest, shooting him off the back of Lapras. He flung into the air, arched, and then hit the water. He felt the slap of the hard, cold water, the waves crashing around him, the light blue of Azumarill’s body, and then, darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> New chapters will be available every Sunday. Follow me @knightley_jack on Instagram and Twitter to know when new stories come out. Thanks for reading!


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